


Reversevibe/CiscoWells Drabbles

by checkerboardom



Series: Flash Gift-Fics [3]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-22
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-05-08 09:26:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 12,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5492123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkerboardom/pseuds/checkerboardom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Literally what it says in the title. All, or most, of my prompts from tumblr in no particular order,</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Spider's Web

**Author's Note:**

> "Just after Cisco voluntarily pulls Eobard back into existence" requested by TheNarator

The first thing that registers is sound, low and forceful like the hum of the particle accelerator on it’s initial launch. For a moment Eobard thinks that Cisco has brought them back to that day, that night, when everything started. Then light breaks through the endless, inky blackness of non-reality and he finds himself standing in the living room of his mansion. Cisco is beside him, fingers splayed in front of him as the air pulses with pure energy and when he opens his eyes to look at him, they’re bright gold instead of the warm brown that he remembers.

“Did it work?” Cisco asks, gleeful and vibrant as the bass hum of his powers flickers and fades and for a moment all Eobard can do is look at him.

“Considering that I’m standing in front of you, I’d say yes.” He finally replies and Cisco’s expression shifts from happy expectancy to horror in the span of seconds. Eobard knows what’s coming and cuts him off before he can start, hands coming up to wrap around his forearms in as close a hug as he can allow himself. “Thank you.”

“I’d say don’t mention it,” Cisco begins with a humorless chuckle. “But I’m probably going to regret this in less than a week.”

He wants to tell him no, that he won’t, but even he knows the words would ring too close to a lie to be of any comfort. So he doesn’t say anything. Instead he pulls Cisco close and presses a kiss to his lips. It’s gentle in the beginning and he can feel Cisco’s reluctance to reciprocate in the rigid lines of his body, but he knows his boy too well to ever let that stop him.

All it takes is a nudge, or rather a pull of a hand in his hair, to have him melting against him and Eobard lets himself enjoy this little moment while it lasts.

He watches as vibrant gold eyes are hidden by closed lids and lets Cisco loop his arms around his shoulders to draw them closer, until they’re pressed against each other like pieces of a puzzle.

“I wish you couldn’t do this,” Cisco says once they break apart, breathless and flushed as he looks up at him. “That I could walk away and not feel… whatever this is.”

His eyes are brown again and Eobard is glad for it, glad the that that one little part of Cisco is no longer alien to him.

“But you won’t.” He tells him and Cisco nods. He looks so crestfallen about it, standing before him like a child that’s been chastised by a parent for doing something that he shouldn’t, but Eobard won’t regret the pull he has on him. There’s too much brilliance in this boy for him to do anything but wrap him up in his influence like a spider in a web and he knows that no matter what, Cisco is his.

He has been since he walked into STAR Labs three years ago with bright eyed naivety and an eagerness to please that reached far beyond any project that Eobard could give him. Since the first time he allowed him into his bed and into that beautiful mind of his, to do with as he wished until Eobard broke him completely.

And still, he lets him pick of the pieces, because despite everything Cisco will always be too great to be anything but alone when he’s not by Eobard’s side and he plans to use that until the option is no longer available to him.


	2. Por Qué No Los Dos? / Focus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You asked for CiscoWells prompts a while back, so can you please, pretty please, give us some jealous!Eobard and/or Harrison? Someone is creeping in on Cisco and he does not like that one bit. Or something along that nature. :) 
> 
> And 
> 
> how about a reversevibe fic where eowells is trying to sweet-talk cisco and brings up stuff he knows about vibe in the future
> 
> \-- requested by anon and lumped together cause the last one's pretty short.

There’s definitely something weird about looking yourself in the face and knowing that it’s not you. It’s even weirder when the other you just so happens to be the murdering psychopath whose actions have been haunting you for the last couple of months in the form of snappish, suspicious children.

And now that other him is back with a too wide grin and a promise to help them finally beat Zoom and it rubs him the wrong way. His eyes are too cold and his words are an endless stream of poison to the ears. But while Barry, Caitlin, and Iris, seem willing to stay clear of his doppleganger, Ramon does not.

It’s obvious that he isn’t comfortable being face to face with the man who shredded his heart both physically and emotionally, but whenever Harry catches a glimpse of Cisco, there’s always a dark shadow following in his wake like a predator waiting to strike.

Then Eobard brings up training Cisco to defeat Zoom instead of Barry and he watches as the boy’s face loses at least two shades of color.

“Absolutely not.” He says before he even realizes he’s opened his mouth and Cisco’s head whips toward him so fast that his neck aches in sympathy. “We need Barry. Ramon would be useless against someone like Zoom.”

Cisco’s face falls and Harry tries to communicate the message of “Shut up or I won’t help you” as best he can without actually saying anything. Ramon doesn’t indicate if he understands, but he does shift away from Eobard that much more.

“Forgive me if I’m mistaken, but as of right now, you haven’t even gotten close to catching Zoom.” Eobard returns. “You have no clue what Cisco can do.”

“And you do?” He snaps back and keeps his gaze firmly on Eobard as Cisco turns and leaves the room. Caitlin rushes after him, but Barry stays.

“Go.” Eobard tells him and Barry crosses his arms in defiance.

“Barry, go.” Harry says, trying to convey the importance of his teams staying close to one another in the pitch of his voice. Barry’s eyes flick between the two of them before he nods and Harry has the satisfaction of seeing his double’s eyes go flinty when the speedster complies. Once Barry is gone, he lets himself relax just that bit more and crosses his arms over his chest when Eobard rounds on him.

“You don’t own him.” He says before his doppleganger can get a word out. “Not any of them and especially not Ramon.”

He expects anger, but instead Eobard’s lips curl into a small smile that’s somehow more terrifying than Zoom’s black grin ever could be. “I made him.”

\---

“Focus,” Eobard tells him, eyes trained on the boy in front of him. Cisco huffs out a frustrated breath, muscles tense, but he does as asked and keeps his gaze intent on the the red streak currently racing around the room.

“You don’t actually expect me to hit him, do you?” Cisco asks and Eobard smiles.

“Not at all.” He adjusts Cisco’s stance by placing a firm hand on his side, turning his body slightly to the right. “Feet apart.”

“So I’m supposed to do what exactly?” Cisco scoffs, not shying away from the touch at all. “Wave my hands at him?”

“You’re supposed to stop him completely.” Eobard tells him, voiced pitched low enough that only the two of them can hear despite the rest of Team Flash being a only few feet away. “Feel the vibrations in the air and bend them to your will. It’s like the strings of a guitar. Every vibe that you get is a string, a chord that you play. Once you learn the notes, all you have to do is play them.”

“But I don’t–” Eobard cuts him off with a hum and Cisco stops and takes a deep breath.

It’s still not enough though and for a moment, they stand in silence, watching Barry as Eobard thinks of a better way to unlock Cisco’s confidence in himself.

“There was a version of you in another time that could sense individual organisms just by the vibrations they emitted.” He smiles when Cisco loses every ounce of the attention that had been previously directed toward Barry and turns to stare at him. “Everything in the universe has a frequency, Cisco. You just happen to be the only Metahuman I’ve ever come across with the particular ability not only to see them, but to manipulate them as well.” He nods his head toward Barry and Cisco raises his hands in preparation. “Now focus.”


	3. Remember

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cisco Ramon/Eobard Thawne – “I almost lost you.” -- requested by TheNarator

When Cisco wakes up his first thought is that he’s never had a hangover this bad before. His head is pounding like someone’s taken a particularly viscous hammer to it and there are finely tuned jitters running from his toes to his fingertips. Curling away from the sliver of light that’s managed to make it past his closed eyelids, he reaches toward his nightstand and his phone and meets…

Air.

Opening his eyes fully, he scrambles back from the sight of Harry perched in a chair beside him and ends up on the floor with a squawk.

“Jesus fuck, Harry!” He shouts once he’s pulled himself up using the sheets of the bed and the other man starts awake.

“You’re awake.” Harry says… fondly?

And then it hits him and he remembers–

–the air singing around him, through him, like the melody of a harp and

–Zoom chasing Barry down like a streak of blue-black death and

–pulling the vibrations from the air, slowing him down until Zoom turns to him with a feral grin and

–Caitlin screaming his name as Zoom wraps a hand around his throat like a vice and

–he can’t breathe, can’t think as he pulls the sound from her scream, from the hum of the red-blue-gold lightning in the air and

–there’s no sound now except for the orchestra in his blood, the crescendo of too much noise flooding his body like the raging of a storm and

–a streak of yellow lightning that he still sees in his dreams when Eobard’s voice gets too loud and

“Eobard?” He asks and not-Harry smiles, too gentle and too familiar for it to be anyone else.

“You remember.” It’s not a question, but Cisco nods nonetheless.

“I– Zoom,” He stops, brow furrowing as he tries to organize his thoughts better than the chaotic jumble of half-formed images that he’s getting. There’s a piece that stands out the most, like the super eight reel of an old movie, flickering and full of static. “I stopped Zoom.”

Eobard nods, pride glowing in his eyes beneath what may not be, but probably is, concern. “You did.” He confirms, light blue shifting to the color of the sky in the middle of a storm. “And I almost lost you because of it.”

“But Barry–” Cisco bites down his words when Eobard rounds the bed in quick, furious strides.

“Barry is not my concern.” He says, voice harsh with emotion and Cisco’s heart jumps into his throat. Eobard must see it on his face, because when he next speaks, his tone is softer. “You didn’t know what you were doing and you nearly destroyed yourself because of it. Barry,” He spits his name out like something rotten. “Barry should have never let you face someone like Zoom without proper training.”

“We didn’t exactly have a lot of other options.” Cisco snaps back, because it was his choice in the end and he had made it. Barry or no Barry, he had been a hero for once and Eobard isn’t going to make him regret that.

“There are hundreds, thousands of better options than putting yourself in danger.” Eobard insists, still too gentle and familiar as his hand comes up to cup Cisco’s jaw. His other hand goes to his hair, pushing the strands that have fallen into his face back and away.

They stay like that for what feels like ages, searching for something that might still be there until Eobard presses a soft kiss to the top of his head. “I will not lose you Cisco. Not again.” He tells him and despite everything that Eobard has done, he feels safer in that moment than he has in the past year.


	4. Rough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cisco Ramon/Eobard Thawne - “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?” -- requested by anon.
> 
> This takes place during the time when General Eiling first starts working with STAR Labs on the super-mind-reading-soldiers project, so Eobard is going to be referred to as Harrison.

There are a lot of things to be said about Cisco’s sex life with one Dr. Harrison Wells, but rough isn’t one of them. Exciting and imbalanced in terms of the power dynamic between them –which really just adds to it more than takes away, if you ask him– but Harrison is never rough with him.

So when he finds himself with a section of drywall digging uncomfortably into his back as his boss bites down on the delicate skin above his pulse, he starts to wonder what’s changed.

He thinks back to the events of the day and all that really stands out is the project he’d been working on for General Dickface –or Eiling, since Dickface isn’t something he’s allowed to call him out loud anymore– and the praise he’d gotten for his work. It hadn’t seemed like a big deal, since Wells tells him that he’s brilliant multiple times a day, but this time it hadn’t been Wells that had said it.

It had been Eiling and– “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

Harrison stops, lips hovering over the dip of his collarbone as he simply breathes for a few seconds. “What would I have to be jealous of?” He asks and Cisco wraps his legs a little more firmly around his waist.

“I don’t know,” Cisco says because he hadn’t actually wanted him to stop now that things have gotten going. “You just don’t normally shove me into walls when we do this.”

Wells looks at him then, gaze flickering across his face, and Cisco tries to keep his expression as open as possible just in case. Eventually Harrison’s lips quirk into a smile and he knows that he’s found whatever he’s looking for.

“Would you prefer to slow things down a little more?” Wells asks with a leisurely roll of his hips and Cisco bites down on his lip to keep in the embarrassingly needy noise that wants to escape.

“Nope, this is good. This is very good. I like this.” He reassures hastily and Harrison chuckles.

“Really?” Another agonizingly slow roll and _dios mio_ , he should’ve known fucking his boss would turn out to be a test of his patience in the long run.

“Yes, really. Now– oh fu-ck.” His voice morphs into a whine on the last word, grinding down as Harrison tightens his hold on his hips and his boss is smirking now because he knows exactly what he’s doing. Digging too-short nails into the corner of the wall, he leans down and kisses him. It’s greedy and open mouthed and utterly perfect as Harrison kisses him back with a little too much force. Then there’s a hand tangled in his hair with none of its usual gentleness, pulling his head down and back as Wells starts biting along the line of his neck.

There’s a moment when Cisco vows to himself to make Wells jealous more often, but the thought is washed away entirely when Harrison shifts him back against the wall more and wraps a hand around him with just the right amount of pressure. He pushes up into his hand with a moan, one that Harrison steals from him with another bruising kiss before pulling him back down to meet his thrusts and for a moment everything is too hot and too close and too much.

Then Harrison is whispering words into his ear like _brilliant_ and _perfect_ and _mine_ and Cisco lets himself go.


	5. Smile

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cisco Ramon/Earth-2 Harrison Wells – “Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?” for TheNarator

Harry’s been… off lately. Like really off. And while the thorough up and down he’d gotten Christmas Eve had been appreciated by a part of him that probably needs extensive therapy, the other, saner, part of him had recoiled from what he knows will never be a good thing. Still, no one’s written the guidebook of what to do when you develop a not so healthy attraction to the doppelganger of your murderous ex-boss, so he figures he’ll play it by ear.

Which is a lot easier to think when you’re not standing in front of said doppelganger while he smiles at you for the first time in… ever.

“Have I entered an alternate universe or did you really just crack a smile for me?” Cisco asks cautiously and Harry’s face goes back to it’s normal forced blankness.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says and Cisco snorts.

“Isn’t that what most five year olds say?” He pauses with a twizzler halfway to his mouth and smiles. “Admit it, you actually like me.”

Harry rolls his eyes and goes back to working on the modifications of his dart gun. “The only thing that I’ll ever admit about you Ramon, is the headache that you give me every day.”

“That’s the excuse most people have when they don’t want to admit how awesome I am.” Cisco replies, voice pitched into a sing-song as he kicks his chair ito a spin. Really it isn’t. Except maybe Hartley, but Cisco can only deal with one douche-tastic crush at a time.

“Then maybe it’s the truth.” Harry mutters just loud enough for them both to hear in the limited space of his workroom and nods his head toward the miniature screwdriver on the desk. “Hand me that.”

“Or maybe it’s not.” He sits the tool down on the workbench and stays there. His mind is screaming at him to stop, to get away before he makes this into something it isn’t, but then Harry realizes he’s still there. It’s like every thought is emptied out of his head beyond the fact that Harry has the same eyes as the other Wells did, as Eobard, when he looks at him.

“I’m going to do something really stupid.” He tells him and that smile comes back with blinding intensity.

“When don’t you?” Harry asks and instead of replying, Cisco rises up on the balls of his feet and kisses him.


	6. Mental

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reverse!Vibe being mentally in tune with each other, reading each others minds, finishing each others sentences, it's gotten so bad that they forget to call each other on the phone and just randomly start talking to each other, like that time Wells made the mistake of going to the grocery store to pick up dinner for the Star Labs crew and no one could decide what they wanted, so Cisco and Wells keep vibing back and forth which escalates to an argument with Wells 'chastising himself' in line. -- for thecowboyarthistorian

The first time it happens, Cisco is down in his workroom while Eobard coaches Barry through perfecting his ability to phase through solid matter. It’s a simple enough concept to understand and Barry is doing well enough–

**‘Shit! Wells is going to kill me.’**

He looks away from Barry and toward the entrance of the Cortex. “Cisco?”

“He’s downstairs.” Barry answers and Eobard shakes his head with a rueful smile.

“Of course, I just recalled something that I needed to tell him.” He says, fingers tapping a pattern on the arm of his chair as he thinks. “We’ll continue with your training tomorrow.”

“I can relay a message for you before I meet up with Iris, if you want.” Barry volunteers before changing into his civilian clothes with a whirlwind of red.

“No, no. I can do it.” Eobard waves him off. “I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

Barry grins at the joke and shouts a quick “See you later!” before speeding away. And then it’s just he and Cisco in the labs, since Caitlin had chosen to take the day off to spend with Ronnie.

He pushes the button on the intercom system. “Cisco, please come upstairs for a moment.”

 _ **‘Oh, mierda! Esto es malo.’**_ He hears in his head moments before Cisco walks into the Cortex with a slightly guilty look on his face. “I swear, I didn’t blow up anything this time.”

“I would hope not.” Eobard replies. “What exactly did you do?”

Cisco looks down at his feet for a moment, tucking his hair behind his ear in nervousness. “I may have set something on fire.” Eobard raises an eyebrow at him and Cisco huffs. “Okay, I set Barry’s suit on fire. But only so I could test the retardation of the material. And it worked!”

‘I just wasn’t expecting everything around I burst into flames too.’

“And your workroom?” Eobard asks. Cisco looks up at him with an odd expression.

“I thought you didn’t have cameras in my room?”

“I don’t.”

“Then how–” Cisco stops when Eobard taps a finger against his temple. “The accelerator?”

“It would appear so.” Eobard agrees and Cisco’s entire body practically vibrates with eagerness.

“That is so awesome!” He exclaims and Eobard smiles. “Not that you weren’t cool before, because you were, but now you’re like Professor Xavier levels of cool–”

“Barry and Caitlin are not to know about this.” Eobard’s cuts in and Cisco pauses mid-speech. “They both have enough to worry about at the moment and so far, it’s just affected the two of us.”

“Okay.” Cisco agrees and Eobard can hear the hesitation in his voice. He isn’t worried though, because he knows that he’ll always have Cisco’s loyalty above anything else.

And Cisco keeps his word. They practice as often as they can, with Eobard asking Cisco question that only they can hear and Cisco doing his best to answer them without resorting to actual speech. They get better at it until they can have full conversation mentally and soon Cisco is so familiar with listening to Eobard that he doesn’t even need to be asked before he’s doing whatever is needed of him.

The only thing they don’t share is the moments where Eobard trains himself to block off part of his thoughts. He locks his plans and the truth of his identity into a box and weaves a web around it that he knows Cisco will never get through. And when asked about it, Eobard tells him that the part of him that he doesn’t want Cisco to see is his memories of Tess.

Cisco doesn’t ask again.

He doesn’t hide parts of himself in response either, but leaves his brilliant mind open to Eobard in every way. He gets every bit of him, the fear and the courage, the poisonous mixture of love-sadness-worthlessness that thoughts of his family inspire, the attraction that flares up whenever their eyes meet for too long. It’s all there and Eobard files it away for later use just like he does everything else.

And then there are the times like now, when he leaves his phone at home and can’t be bothered to go through the ordeal of actually retrieving it.

 **'Cisco?’** He calls and there’s a bright spot of awareness as Cisco directs his attention to him.

 _’_ **Yeah boss?’**

**'What did you want to eat for movie night?’**

**'Popcorn, obviously. Chocolate, those steak and cheese chimichangas they keep in the freezer section, soda– no wait, make that beer. But not the light kind, because no one likes that crap anyway. Actually can you grab a Four Loko for me?’**

**'I meant actual food.’**

**'And you think chimichangas aren’t?’ Eobard doesn’t bother replying. 'Fine. But twizzlers and popcorn are a must have. Why?’**

“Because I’m at the grocery store and you normally bring the snacks.” He replies, then realizes that he actually said it loud when the college student pulls a headphone out and looks at him expectantly. He waves them off and grabs a frozen pizza.

**'Barry says he can grab some Big Belly Burger. Caitlin wants italian, but if we’re getting fast food I vote philly cheese steaks from that little place downtown. Their fries are amazing.’**

**'Barry and Caitlin are there?’**

**'They kind of invited themselves. But don’t worry, I pretended I was texting you.’**

“I wasn’t worried.” Eobard says and the woman perusing the wine selection beside him gives him an odd look. **'We’ll reschedule movie night then and just do dinner as a team.’** He offers and the flood of happiness that comes from Cisco at the moment makes it hard to bite back a smile.


	7. Flirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cisco Ramon/Eobard Thawne + reporter – “they were flirting with you”
> 
> Note: This is before the launch, so Eobard will be referred to as Harrison.

Cisco doesn’t get jealous, or really, he doesn’t get jealous often. So it’s perfectly understandable that he doesn’t realize what the feeling that’s curling in the pit of his stomach is until Harrison’s reached the end of his interview.

“…know that the completion of the STAR Labs accelerator has been highly anticipated. Is there anything that you’re looking forward to in particular after the launch?” The reporter asks, cherry red lips curved into a flirtatious smile.

Wells smiles back, pushing his glasses up a little more as he seems to think over his answer. “Well, we’ve always been focused on the scientific advancement of humanity here at STAR, but as most of my staff knows, this particular project has been important to me for years. There were trials and errors, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve been lucky to have so many brilliant minds at my disposal for this last stretch.” He takes off his glasses. “But to answer your original question, I guess you could say I’m looking forward to the culmination of nearly a decade of planning. The accelerator was never going to be an easy undertaking and I knew that when I first came up with the idea. Finally arriving to tonight and everything that comes after it has been an immense relief.”

“So there are other projects?”

“Oh yes. A few that are already in the works, like the bio-medical divisions work on advanced EKG machines, which I have Dr. Snow so diligently working on before her honeymoon.”

Caitlin blushes and looks over at Ronnie with a small, loving smile. He squeezes her hand.

“Or the progression of our understanding toward certain frequencies as yet unknown to us.” This time he smiles at Cisco, warm and mischievous before directing his back toward the interviewer. “There are plenty of others, but I wouldn’t want to bore you with the details.”

“Oh, I don’t think any of us are bored.” The reporter replies, leaning forward in a facsimile of rapt attention. “After all, practically the whole city is going to watch the launch, whether it’s from home or outside this very building.”

And there are a lot of them outside. Cisco had checked an hour ago, head peeking out of one of the side entrances so that he wouldn’t be seen.

“Well I hope we give them something worth watching.” Wells tells her and the interview wraps up among a flood of congratulations. Harrison takes it all in stride, glasses once again perched on his nose as the interviewer asks him a few more private questions now that the cameras are off.

It’s their cue to leave, but Cisco sticks around after promising to catch up with Cait and Ronnie later. He wonders briefly where Hartley is, knowing that the other young genius would want to be here for this, but the thought is pushed aside as the reporter tucks a loose lock of ginger hair behind her ear with a blush.

“I certainly look forward to seeing more of you in the future, Dr. Wells.” She says as she hands over her card. “If you’re ever looking for someone to talking about your work here or anything at all, you know who to call.”

Once she and her small crew are gone, Harrison’s smile fades to something less forced. It’s small and warm and his eyes are bright as he catches sight of Cisco waiting for him. “What did you think?”

“Besides the fact that she was flirting with you the whole time?” He’s not jealous, not of her, but of the fact that she can do something that he can’t. Not out in the open where people would judge both of them for it. And there’s always going to be a part of him that worries over Harrison realizing that and ending things between them, because there was a time when Wells planned on getting married, when he could talk openly about his relationship with Tess instead of the closed door affair that he has with Cisco.

It must show in his expression because Harrison pulls him into the relative privacy of one of the extra workrooms and kisses him. “You know you’re the only person I want like this.” Another kiss that’s longer and more demanding than the last. “Don’t insult yourself by thinking you’re not good enough. Now, we have…” He glances over at the clock on the wall. “Thirty minutes before I need to be outside to greet everyone.”

“Yeah, they should be hooking up the last of the mics by now–” Oh. “And you weren’t talking about that.”

“Twenty nine minutes, Cisco.” Harrison teases, eyes bright with laughter, and Cisco pulls him down into another kiss.


	8. Like This

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cisco Ramon/Eobard Thawne + “ he/she can’t make you feel the way i make you feel ” + Harry Wells for TheNarator
> 
> Note: I WAS GONNA GO TO SLEEP BUT NOW IM DRUNK AND NEED TO WRITE PORN MERRY CHRISTMAS! I BLAME SAM!

He can tell just by the way that Wells looks at his boy that he wants him. It’s in his eyes, in the way they linger too long on the curve of Cisco’s waist and the bow of his lips. It’s in the way his voice goes slightly off when he talks to him and the not-quite distance that he puts between them whenever Cisco enters a room.

He doesn’t act on his knowledge, not where the others can see, but once they get a moment alone he wraps a hand in Cisco’s hair and pulls him close. “You fucked him.”

It’s not a question and Cisco doesn’t nod, because he doesn’t need to. Not when Eobard knows him well enough to read the answer in way his lips part in a mixture of fear-arousal-anticipation.

He tilts his head further into Eobard’s hand, pupils already blown wide despite the fact that they haven’t even gotten started yet and Eobard kisses him. It’s demanding and rougher than normal, but Cisco doesn’t seem to mind. Far from it, if the way he arches into it is any indication. His arms come up to loop around Eobard’s shoulders, body molding itself to his until there’s only clothes between them, and he can’t help but smile as he pulls away.

“Did he compliment you?” He asks and Cisco shivers. “Did he tell you how brilliant you are? How perfect you look when your aching for attention?”

“No.” Cisco replies dutifully and Eobard hums, fingers dipping down to pop the button on Cisco’s jeans.

“Did he touch you like I do? Did he find the places on your body that make you moan? That make you scream?” He plays with the hem of his boxers, fingers skimming along the band as the muscles of Cisco’s stomach flinch with each brush of his knuckles.

His boy sucks in a breath, teeth catching on his bottom lip as he bites back a sound that Eobard knows will be high and needy. “N-no.”

“That’s because he doesn’t know you the way I do.” He never will, not after the two years Eobard had spent learning this boy inside and out – mind, body, and soul. “He can’t make you feel the way I make you feel.” He tells him and sinks to his knees so that he can press a kiss to his abdomen, then to the sharp curve of his hip above his boxers.

Cisco’s hands clench onto the top of his workbench as he pushes his pants down along his thighs, nails digging into the linoleum covered surface until his knuckles turn white. Eobard presses his lips to the inner curve of his thigh, then nips at the delicate skin there and Cisco jumps.

“I cant–” He begins and cuts off with a moan when Eobard licks along the vein there, pulse rabbit-quick beneath his tongue.

“You can.” He tells him firmly and Cisco shakes his head.

“There’s a little thing of lube in my pocket.” He wiggles his fingers toward the right pocket of his jeans. “I can’t reach it from here.”

Eobard wants to ask why it’s there in the first place, but he has a feeling that he already knows the answer, so he says nothing and digs the small packet out. Then Cisco’s hands are clutching at the material of his shirt and pulling him back up for another kiss.

“Like this.” He says, voice soft and warm and Eobard has no choice but to comply.


	9. Sand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eobard Thawne/Cisco Ramon + “no one has to know” for anon.

The future, Thawne’s future, is not what Cisco expects it to be. Probably because he’s basing his assumptions off of old movies, but it’s all he’s had to go off of until now. But this, the world that he finds himself standing in that moment, is so much more.

They’re standing on a beach with fine white sand and while a part of him knows that it doesn’t feel exactly like sand should, it’s close enough that he can forget.

“The waves are artificial.” Thawne says from beside him, looking out over the vast horizon of the ocean. “There are turbines running just beyond that line that keeps them in time with what the tide used to be. And that,” He points up to the distant speck in the sky. “Is the Watchtower.”

“The…” Cisco knows the name, feels like he’s heard it once in a dream, but can’t quite place it. “Have I been there?”

“I would assume so. A long time ago.” There’s something in the way he says that last part, a sadness that Cisco feels more than he hears and he knows that whatever Eobard is thinking in that moment is anything but happy.

“I die? After I join the Justice League?” He asks and he knows exactly what the Watchtower is now, knows it like he’s seen it before, when it wasn’t just a speck in the sky. He doesn’t need an answer to his questions, but Eobard nods.

“The history books say that you were resurrected during a war, that you were used as a weapon against other heroes. Afterwards, they locked you away.” He clenches his fists. “There’s a place in the Hall Of Justice where they still have your cage. It’s dusty and forgotten now, but at one point they realized just how destructive your powers could be, to yourself and others, that they figured it would be better off to keep you quarantined until you gained control.”

“How did I get out?” Because if he knows, if he can learn now, he might be able to avoid it in the future or past or whenever it might be. He might be able to prove that he’s just as much as a hero as Barry and Wally and Jesse, instead of the villain waiting to happen that he’s believed himself to be for so long.

But Eobard shrugs, turning away from the beach and the distant image of the Watchtower. “That’s something that the books never said. You should stay here, where it’s safe and no one knows who you are. Where no one has to know what you’re capable off and wont feel the need to guard themselves against you.”

It’s said as if it’s an afterthought, an idea thrown out as Cisco treads through the too white sand at Eobard’s side, but he knows that it’s not. This is Thawne offering him a home again, a place outside of Team Flash where he can be the brilliant mechanical engineer again. Where Eobard can be his mentor and so much more beyond that without needing to hide.

There was a time when Cisco would have wanted that more than anything. Where he would have traded the nightmares of his visions just to go back to a time when Eobard would look at him with a loving smile while a movie played on in the background.

He stumbles to a stop in the sand and Eobard stops too, tugged back by the fingers intertwined with his own. “No one has to know, Cisco.” He repeats softly and Cisco knows that he wants what they had just as much as Cisco does. He also knows what he’s going to do the moment Eobard cups his face in his free hand

The kiss is soft, achingly so, and as he leans into it, he unlaces their fingers. “I’m sorry.” He murmurs against Eobard’s lips and the other man nods, eyes meeting his own as he steps back.

He closes his eyes and when he opens them, the beach is gone, replaced with the claustrophobic familiarity of his apartment.


	10. Sorry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "reversevibe with eobard just being generally possessive and creepy? also possibly joe being very concerned. anything you want really, but with those two elements" for anon.

There are only a few times when Joe can say that his hands shook while holding his gun. During his rookie days it had been more common, but recently the only time he can remember is when he’d been in the hands of Grodd.

And then there’s now.

“Cisco?” He calls softly and the boy pauses, a visible shudder rolling down his spine. Barry stops as well, lightning crackling around him as he creates a protective barrier between them. “This isn’t you.”

Cisco doesn’t answer, doesn’t get a chance to as Eobard waltzes forward with all the self assured cockiness he’d had while masquerading as Wells. He ignores Barry completely and goes to Cisco instead, face soft and open. “He’s right.”

“You said–” Cisco begins, brows knitting together as he looks between Barry and Joe.

“I said that you could be so much more. And he’s right; this is only a fraction of the man you’ll one day be.” Eobard leans close, words too soft for Joe to hear, but whatever hesitation that was in Cisco’s eyes before flickers out. “I’ve never lied to you Cisco, not really. They will, just as soon as they realize what you really are, what you can really do. They’ll shut you out and abandon you, just like your family did.”

“Don’t listen to him Cisco.” Joe pleads and he can see the gold flickering in the boys eyes. He’s seen Vibe enough times to know what it looks like when he’s about to attack and he readies his gun in response. “I don’t want to have to shoot you.”

Not ever and especially not when it’s the influence of Eobard that’s brought them to this point.

“You won’t.” Cisco tells him as he raises his hands. There’s one breathless second when everything is still and then Barry bursts into motion and Joe fires his gun. The sound of the bullet is pulled from the air, sucked into the vortex of Cisco’s powers as the Barry becomes a streak of red between them.

He comes to a stop seconds later, face pained as the hollow chime of the bullet hitting the ground echoes around them and it takes a moment for Joe to register the fact that Cisco and Thawne are now gone.

He lowers his gun.

…

“We’ll find him.” Barry says once their back in the Cortex. Caitlin is silent beside him, shoulders stiff as she checks their resident speedster over for injuries. Joe had waved her off when she offered and she had nodded even as tears pricked in her eyes.

“Or we could wait for him to come to us.” Wally suggests as he digs around for one of the homemade protein bars Cisco had stashed around various parts of the Cortex for when they’d needed to recover after a fight. “He’s your best friend, right? Trust him to make the right decision.”

“I hate to say it, but I don’t trust him to do what’s right at the moment, not with Thawne whispering in his ear.”

“Maybe we should.” Iris adds. “It’s not his fault.”

“Last time I checked, Thawne doesn’t have mind control powers.” Harry cuts in, ignoring the glares he receives from Barry and Cait at the comment. “Cisco’s making his own decisions, Eobard or no Eobard.”

“You don’t know what it’s like.” Caitlin’s voice is soft and she’s not looking at any of them as she speaks, gaze focused on the splint she’s placing around Barry’s wrist. “For us, Wells – Eobard was everything before Barry came along. Those nine months you were in a coma, he was all we had. For Cisco it was worse, because he didn’t have a family that cared enough about him for him to ever feel the need to go to them for support and after I lost Ronnie… I couldn’t.” She pauses and takes in a shuddering breath. “I couldn’t be there for him when I should have been and I know it’s not my fault, that I needed time to heal and I get that. But at the same time, Wells was all Cisco had. They were close before and nine months made them even closer, so you can say that Cisco’s making his own decisions all you want, but you have to remember that whatever bond they formed became the only sense of home Cisco had and that’s something that Thawne isn’t going to let him forget.”

She looks up then, eyes meeting Joe’s through a shimmer of tears. “You can trust him just as much as any of us. You know that.”

“I know.” He tells her and she nods. “Wally can you do something to find him?”

Wally sits up in his chair a little more and turns to the computer. “I can check. Give me an energy drink and an hour.”

“Harry,” Wells looks away from Caitlin with a hum. “Help him. Patty, Jesse, and I will search the city while Barry heals. Wally can join us once he’s done.”

“I can go.” Barry objects but Joe shakes his head. He doesn’t need four people to worry about, not while they look for Cisco.

“You can rest.” He tells him and Barry slumps back against the medical cot. “We’ll be back as soon as we find him.”

…

Cisco shivers where he stands beside Eobard. It’s as much from the cold night air as it is the proximity of the man that killed him once upon a time and when his ex-mentor looks at him, he shakes his head and smiles to show that he’s alright.

He’s not sure if he is.

Ever since their confrontation with Barry and Joe that morning, he’d been doubting himself. Or doubting Eobard really, because he’s never had enough faith in himself as it is.

It’s not obvious, at least he hopes it isn’t, but he cant help the fleeting thought that he’s misjudged the situation. He’d seen the future that Eobard told him about, seen himself locked inside a glass cage as his powers did their best to shake him apart whenever he tried to get out. He’d seen himself fight Wally and Barry both, seen their determination to beat him in their eyes.

He’d come back from the Vibes with tears in his eyes and strong arms wrapped around his waist as Eobard whispered promises of something better if only he’d help him now.

“You’re mine Cisco, always have been, and right now I need you.” He’d said and it’d been so nice to be needed again. With Jesse, Patty, and Wally now on the Team, it had gotten crowded in the Cortex pretty quickly and despite his best efforts, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being pushed aside.

With Eobard, he doesn’t have that fear. There’s no one else to interfere with the single minded focus that he finds himself under and he can’t deny the fact that it makes a part of him happy.

“Eo?” He calls softly and gentle blue eyes flick over to him. “What…” He stops and takes a deep breath. “Are you using me?”

He’s never told him a lie, not out loud, and Cisco hopes that he won’t start now. “Yes.”

Another breath. “Do you actually care about me? Or is this all a part of your plan to get revenge on Barry?”

It’s always about Barry at some point or another, always will be when it comes to Thawne’s plans. But Eobard turns to him fully and treads a hand into his hair. It’s gentle, so much so that he finds himself leaning into it with a sigh.

“You’re the only person that I’ve ever admitted to loving Cisco.” He tells him before pressing a kiss to his crown. “Never doubt that. And never think that I have any intention of losing you. Especially now that I have you at my side again.”

Cisco nods and Eobard smiles as he pulls back. “Your team should be coming soon.” He kisses him, quick and needy. “Make me proud.”

His lips are still tingling when he’s gone.

…

It’s Joe and Patty that show up to confront him. The others must have gone after Eobard and he’s almost grateful for it. He likes Wally and Jesse, but they’re not the ones he needs to talk to.

“I’m not going to fight.” He tells them and Joe instantly relaxes. Patty does not, but she doesn’t know him like Joe does.

“I knew you wouldn’t kid.” It’s the wrong thing to say and Joe winces a little, but Cisco doesn’t mind. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just stupid.” Stupid for trusting Eobard, stupid for ever going along with his plan to hurt Barry. Stupid for letting himself be talked into becoming the thing that he’s always feared.

Joe doesn’t reply. No, he takes two quick steps forward and pulls him into a hug. “It’s not your fault.”

“I’m sorry.” He won’t cry. Not here where they can see him. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t–”

“Hey, Cisco, look at me. Look at me.” Joe repeats and Cisco does at he’s told, breath shuddering in his chest as he holds back his tears. “None of this is your fault.” He promises and Cisco nods.

He just hopes that one day he’ll actually believe him.


	11. Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eobard Thawne/Cisco Ramon + “you’re mine you hear me?”/“you belong to me” for TheNarator

The strangest thing about Eobard’s return has to be the shift in features, the broader shoulders and the dark blonde hair, even the slight change in height. They’re all things that Cisco notices the first time he actually sees him.

The similarities come later.

The first is the fact that his eyes are the same. They’re a different shade of blue, sure, but they’re still too clear and too gentle as Eobard regards him with a contemplative look. He looks at him as if he isn’t quite sure what to do with him and Cisco doesn’t know whether to be upset or relieved by that information.

Next is the way he speaks. It’s lilting and chaotic, soft and brusque, and sometimes Cisco gets the feeling that Eobard’s thoughts are too fast for his words, like a flow of data that can’t quite be processed due to the simple fact that its too great. The first time he ever heard Harrison, or Eobard really, talk like that he’d been unnerved. But now… Now it’s oddly pleasing, like a song that’s grown familiar.

And last– Last is the way he feels, strong and sure as his hands skim over Cisco’s body, mapping out the differences since they were last here.

“You’re gorgeous.” He says and Cisco shivers, heat curling along his spine at the reverence he hears. Eobard smirks in response, fingers tapping a quick, maddening rhythm along the dip of Cisco’s hips. He’s so close to where Cisco wants him, hips arching up in a silent plea for more as Eobard plays his body like well loved instrument. “You’re mine.”

Cisco nods, mind going foggy as thin fingers wrap around him with just the right amount of pressure.

Eobard strokes him once, then twice, thumb swiping over his head as he gives a twist of his wrist and Cisco barely bites back the needy sound building in his throat. “Do you hear me?”

Another nod and Eobard pauses, lips quirking down as he waits for something better. They study each other for a moment, breath quick in the limited space between them until Cisco finally manages a reply. “I’m yours.” He says and Eobard smiles, slow and heated.

It should be quick after that. It should be a hurried relearning of each other’s bodies, a refreshers of the things they might have missed over the past year, but Eobard keeps it slow. His fingers resume their trail over Cisco’s body, dancing along his sides until Cisco curls away just that little bit, then firmer as he reaches his abdomen and soft again as he traces up his chest to the curve of his collarbone. His other hand is still wrapped around him, stroking him to a slow peek as Cisco tries to keep from shaking apart and he’s not sure if he should reciprocate or simply bask in the pleasure of being with someone that knows him so completely.

His orgasm builds up like a wave, lapping at him like the tide as Eobard brings him close only to let him come back down and it’s maddening in the best of ways. It’s with one of these down periods that Eobard nudges his legs apart, thigh pressed up against him to create more friction. Reaching between them to take him in hand, Cisco tries to recall what Eobard had liked before and goes off of that. It seems to be the right thing to do as Eobard’s breaths come a little quicker and his hands speeds up, working Cisco closer and closer to the edge until he comes with a sound that might be a moan and might be a half uttered plea for more.

For a moment his mind blanks out, back arching and toes curling at just how good it feels and Eobard presses a kiss to his hair.

“Look at you,” He breathes as he thrusts into Cisco’s hand and something low and heated curls within him at the praise. “Look at what I can make of you, how beautiful you are like this.” He kisses him again, this time to his lips, and it’s open and greedy as Cisco tightens his fingers around him. “You belong to me, Cisco. Just like this, always like this.”

And Cisco nods.


	12. cisco looses his phone and sex happens

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "i have some mighty need for arm kink SO reversevibe + arm kink whether from getting his powers/working out/lifting equipment Eobard|Wells has some definition. Cisco really likes it"

“Where the hell are you?” Cisco mutters under his breath as he digs through his tool drawer, pushing screwdrivers and lead packs out of the way as he looks for his phone. He could’ve sworn that he just had it, but he’s looked everywhere and hasn’t found it.

“Did you check the Pipeline?” Caitlin asks and Cisco lets out a groan.

“Yes, I checked the Pipeline. And the Cortex and the cafeteria and the security desk. I even asked Karen in accounting.”

Caitlin hums and digs her own phone out. “Want me to call it?”

“It’s kind of… Off?” Cisco shrugs when she raises an eyebrow. “Dante wants me to go out to the casino and I really don’t feel like letting him blow my paycheck again.”

“Maybe you should keep it in your locker like you were told when you got hired here.” Hartley mutters from the doorway, not bothering to look up from the papers in his hands.

“No one asked you.” Cisco quips back and Hartley makes an uninterested sound low in his throat.

“Dr. Wells wants you to look over these.” He says, tossing the stack of blueprints onto the workbench. “There’s nothing wrong with them of course, but he wants a second opinion.”

Cisco picks them up and frowns at… It’s a power cell? “And you didn’t give him one?”

Hartley rolls his eyes. “I did. Put them on my desk before you leave.”

“When do you think he’s going to realize that he’s not actually our boss?” Cisco asks once Hartley’s gone and Caitlin laughs.

“Never, probably. You just learn to ignore the bitchiness after a while.” She gets up and shrugs the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “I’m heading out to lunch with Ronnie. Want anything?”

“A burger with mushrooms and bacon?” He offers and she nods.

“Try checking the other labs for your phone. Someone’s bound to have seen it.”

…

He checks the other labs. He checks the bathrooms. Well, the men’s bathrooms at least. He even asks security again and the guy behind the desk just stares at him for a long moment before shaking his head.

Figures.

Finally he just admits defeat and starts going room by room, peeking into open doorways to see if they’re empty before he starts snooping around.

“I swear this is the last room on this floor. If it’s not here I’m buying a new phone.” He gets paid this week, right? Plus it’s not like he cant afford it and his phone is pretty old. There’s only so many times that he can repair the charging port on it before it expl–

“Holy god!” He ducks back out of the room so quick that he nearly trips on the doorjam. “Sorry!”

“No need.” Wells says and the fact that Cisco looks over is automatic really. His boss is shrugging into a new dress shirt, fingers doing up the buttons with familiar efficiency. “I should know better than to eat saucy foods when I’m wearing white.”

“Okay.” Cisco replies and wills his cheeks to stop heating up. It’s not like it’s a big deal. Dr. Wells just happens to be his boss, his tall, good looking boss with muscles that are really just unfair. What kind of scientist needs to be that cut?

“You can look now, Mr. Ramon.” He does and Wells smiles, tucking his stained shirt over his arm. “See? Fully dressed. Hopefully I didn’t scar you for life.”

Is that supposed to be a joke? “You didn’t. I mean, you look hot. Good! You look good… Shirtless.”

Wells laughs, eyes bright as he pauses at Cisco side. “I believe you left your phone in my office earlier.”

Oh thank god. “I could kiss you right now.” Cisco says, then smacks a hand over his mouth in horror. “Please ignore that this ever happened.”

“Or I could invite you to dinner and it could happen again.” Wells offers and Cisco makes a noise behind his hand.

“Are you asking me out?” He asks and Wells chuckles.

“How does Thai sound?” He asks in reply and all Cisco can do is nod his head.

…

He completely forgets to get his phone. At this point he's more concerned about the fact that he’s apparently going on a date with his boss. What kind of telenovela is this?

He stays in his workroom until his shift ends, looking over the blue prints for the power cell and making modifications to the casing designs. After a steady three hours of work, it’s smaller and sleeker looking, but he still has no idea how it’s actually supposed to work. Temperature fusion? Power conversion?

“I see you got my blueprints.” Wells says from somewhere behind him and Cisco jumps, knees smacking into the underside of his workbench.

“Yeah, but I don’t know how your expecting to power this thing or what you’re even going to do with it.” He tells him as Wells leans in to look at them over his shoulder and his arm is unfairly close to Cisco’s face, the muscles of his biceps shifting under the material of his shirt as he puts weight on it.

Cisco bites his lip.

“It’s certainly an improvement on my initial design.” His boss compliments and Cisco hums. “Thank you, Cisco.”

“It’s my job.” Cisco shrugs and Wells smiles.

“Well your job I done for today and I believe we have an evening scheduled.” He hands over Cisco’s phone. “You never came and got it.”

Did he want him to?

“Thank you.” Cisco says and tucks it into his jeans before grabbing his satchel.

…

Dinner is good. Spicy, but not too much, and despite his initial discomfort, Cisco finds himself genuinely enjoying his evening.

After dinner is great though. Harrison takes him back to his apartment and Cisco finds himself inviting him up before he can think better of it. Instead of rejecting his offer and leaving him standing outside, his boss accepts and follows him up to his floor.

The first time they kiss is in the elevator and there’s a feeling of anticipation curling in his stomach at how Wells loops an arm around his waist to pull him close. It builds and builds once they’re actually standing in his livingroom, curling tight as he pulls his boss toward his bedroom.

Once they’re actually stripping it hits Cisco just hoe crazy this actually is and he laughs, hair getting caught on the button on his collar as he pulls it over his head. He tugs at it and curses when it doesn’t let go, then freezes as Wells takes the lock of hair and gently unwinds it.

Then they’re just standing there, half dressed and quiet ad they look at each other.

“Do you wanna?” Cisco tilts his head toward the bed and Wells laughs.

It’s simply after that, surprisingly so. Cisco had expected awkwardness and no shortage of him saying something inappropriate, but he finds that he’s actually really comfortable despite his nervousness. Wells is achingly gentle as he preps him, pressing open mouthed kisses to Cisco’s stomach until he clenches his fists against the urge to laugh.

Then that mouth wraps around him and that urge vanishes, wiped away by a skilled tongue as Harrison adds another finger. He lets himself get lost in the feeling of it, head tipping back into his pillow as his orgasm is coaxed from him with far too much patience.

Wells draws away when he’s just about to come, breath damp against his hip as he presses one last kiss there and shifts Cisco’s legs further apart. Cisco makes a noise at the loss, body twisting so that he can dig a condom out of his side drawer and holy shit, they’re actually doing this.

“Can I…?” He stops and wraps a leg around Wells’ waist so that he can pull him closer and his boss smiles.

“You can do whatever you like, Cisco.” He says and Cisco nods, tongue peeking out to lick his lips. “I wont dictate how you find pleasure.”

Okay. “Okay,” He replies and cuts off with a moan as Wells enters him. It’s only a little bit, but it aches in the best of ways and he has to bite his lip from making the embarrassingly needy noise that’s trying to claw it’s way out of his throat.

Harrison waits for him, hips still as he waits for Cisco to adjust and Cisco tightens the hold that his leg has on his waist.

“I’m good.” He says and Harrison kisses him, swallowing up his moan as he begins to move. It’s easy, a study in familiarity that neither of them should have this soon into actually getting together, but Cisco doesn’t think about that. In fact, he doesn’t think about much besides the little sounds that he makes every time Harrison slides home and the arm that’s braced against his pillows.

He tilts his head to the side and bites along the muscles of Wells’ bicep, soothing the marks that are soon to come with quick kisses, and Harrison shudders, breath leaving him as his hips stutter.

“Sorry.” Cisco apologizes, skin going even redder than it already is with embarrassment, but his boss simply smiles and kisses him with an urgency that makes him shiver.

“Don’t apologize.” He tells him and Cisco nods.


	13. Everyone Deserves A Joe West

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Joe and Cisco talking through the ramifications of his relationship with Wellsobard? (Can be s1 or s2, i'm not piky)

Cisco doesn’t get mad when Joe questions him about Eobard. But then again, Joe’s pretty sure the kid doesn’t have an angry bone in his body. He doesn’t get defensive either or try to excuse the fact that he basically told Eobard how to find him once he creates STAR Labs.

“Barry needed me in the past.” Cisco says with a shrug. “If telling Eobard who I am means that I get to be there, then I’m not going to question it.”

But Joe is. Joe’s going to question a whole lot of things when it comes to whatever the odd effect that Eobard has on Cisco is, he has been for a while and, “What you said before, about being nothing before Wells hired you, does that still apply?”

He isn’t harsh when he asks it, but Cisco’s entire body seems to waver between going rigid and curling in on itself as if to shield against the words. “I wasn’t.”

Oh kid.

“Cisco, look at me.” He waits until Cisco meets his eyes, a hand coming up to push his hair out of his face as he turns to face him fully. “Wel– Thawne didn’t make you. Everything you are, all the things that you do, that’s not his doing.” Cisco opens his mouth to speak and Joe knows exactly what he’s going to say, so he cuts him off before he can actually say it. “Even without your powers, you’re still one of most god dam brilliant people that I’ve ever met, kid. The Reverse Flash didn’t do that. The Man In Yellow didn’t do that. You did.”

“I was going to be a singer.” Cisco admits and grins when Joe lets out a sudden laugh. “Growing up in my family, you had to be some kind of musical gift to mankind or you weren’t… You weren’t worth noting. I gave up on it when they started building STAR Labs. My parents didn’t get it, but I could sit on a fire escape downtown for hours watching the Labs being built and dreaming of one day working here.”

“And then your dream came true.” Joe says and Cisco’s smile goes fragile, like spun glass waiting to be shattered.

“I started working for my hero: The Great Harrison Wells.” He lets out a short, humorless laugh. “My life became this amazing thing that I loved. My job, Ronnie, Caitlin… Wells. They became my home, my family and I don’t want to lose that. I saw my chance to keep my life the way I want it to be and I took it.”

“And Eobard?”

“What about him?”

Joe crosses his arms, weight settling on his right foot as he raises an eyebrow at his friend. “Don’t tell me there wasn’t anything going on there, not with how he looked at you in that security feed.”

“Mama never did like liars.” Cisco mutters and it’s not exactly an answer, not a definite one and honestly, Joe is glad for it. It’s all too easy for him to imagine just how well Thawne might’ve had Cisco wrapped up in his little web, starstruck and eager to please after finally meeting his hero.

Caitlin had already had Ronnie, had been more independent, but she had still reacted strongly to the accusations they’d put against Wells last year. Cisco might not have, might have let his curiosity win out in the end, but Joe can still remember the pain in his eyes when Joe had told him of his suspicions concerning Nora’s murder.

No one ever wants to believe that their loved on is a murderer, he thinks and he feels grateful to Cisco for even humoring him in the first place. For risking his job and his small, hard won family and his life.

“You know that if you need someone to talk to, I’m here right?” Joe asks and Cisco nods.

“Well, now that he’s gone, I don’t really have anything to worry about.” He gives him a smile that’s too bright and too quick to be anything but forced and for once, Joe wishes that Cisco hadn’t learned to hide his pain behind a veil of humor.

“You don’t need a reason to talk about your feelings, Cisco.” He tells him softly and Cisco gives him this look, like he doesn’t quite understand what he’s saying. Like he’s so used to needing an excuse to share how he feels, lest he be judged for them and Joe knows that he has his work cut our for him if he’s ever going to get this kid to truly value himself as much as he does other people.

He just hopes that he’ll have enough time to do so before something sends Cisco retreating back behind the wall he’s built around himself in an an effort to keep from getting hurt.


	14. The Man Who Haunted Himself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "After the last episode I can't help but imagine Reverb meeting the Reverse Flash. It would either go horrible, or the two of them would look each other over and go, "well, hello there!" and Cisco would just throw his hands up in desperation, because no, nope, no way is that happening. In no universe is that ever going to happen, as far as he is concerned. And no he isn't the slightest bit jealous either." -- for flammenkobold on tumblr

Earth Two, or One if his double is to be believed, is different in many ways. Their Killer Frost is a bio-engineer cum nursemaid, their Police Chief is a news reporter, their Deathstorm is dead – no difference there, really – and their Flash is a child instead of the man that holds a stern faced statue in the center of town.

Their Harrison Wells, who is not actually Harrison Wells is different too and their Hartley Rathaway is small and gay while his own is tall and still pretty gay. Some things have to stay universal constants, he supposes, which is why he’s not at all surprised at how his first meeting with Earth One “Harrison” goes.

Francisco – Cisco, he reminds himself with an aborted eye-roll – had spent three annoyingly pointless days keeping them apart, but he figures they were bound to run into each other sooner or later.

It turns out to be sooner and he has to resist the urge to remove his feet from where they’re perched atop the center console in the Cortex at the arch look he receives.

“Cisco.” Thawne greets with something that could be amusement if Francisco knew him better.

“Time Traveler.” He returns with a dip of his head and watches as Eobard’s right eyebrow climbs up just that little bit higher. He smiles.

“Not Cisco then.” Thawne hums and Francisco has to fight to keep his smile from turning into a grin.

“Oh. No.” A voice calls from the hall leading into the depths of the labs. Francisco tilts his head back to look over at his doppleganger as he makes his way into the room. “No no no. Absolutely not. You two are not talking. My life is not becoming a rerun of The Man Who Haunted Himself.” Cisco pauses, eyes flicking between his ex-boss and his mirror image before coming to pause on the latter in disbelief. “Are those braids?”

Francisco reaches up and wraps one of the braids at his temples around his fingers. “I was bored.”

“Okay Lagertha.” Cisco snips and Thawne makes a noise that’s far too reminiscent of a poorly concealed laugh. Cisco turns on him with a frown. “I thought I told you last time that I’d blast you through a wall if you came here again.”

“Oh really.” Francisco says, eyeing the two of them with interest. “That’d be fun to see.”

Cisco opens his mouth to reply, then pauses and closes it. He holds up a finger and tries again and for a moment the two other men simply stare at him. “Wait, did you call the Reverse Flash – my murderer, might I add – to STAR Labs just because you were bored?”

“It worked.” Francisco says and Cisco makes a choking noise. “You need a speedster to practice your powers on that isn’t Barry and I needed entertainment.”

“You’re evil.” Cisco concludes, voice lowing in disgust on the last word, and Francisco removes his feet from the console so that he can uncurl from his chair.

“It was either him or Rathaway.” Reverb shrugs and looks over to Eobard. “Get your suit, sunshine.”

“Earth Two must be fascinating.” Eobard remarks and he’s definitely amused now, if the bright blue twinkle in his eyes is anything to go by.

“Some of it. Other parts less so.”

And there goes that eyebrow again. “And what would you call the other parts?”

“Flawed.” Francisco tells him and they’re both aware that they’re no longer discussing the city, if they ever were. Eobard hums. “All of it’s dirty in some way or another.”

“But still something worth seeing.” Thawne adds and Francisco pauses, momentarily drawn up short by the pure certainty that he hears in the other man’s words. No wonder his double fell as hard as he did.

“I could show you.” He finally replies and Cisco lets out a too loud sigh behind them.

“I’m gonna show both of you the inside of a pipeline cell if you don’t stop with the icky villain flirting game you’ve got going on.” He grumbles and Francisco chuckles.

“And here I though you grew out of that kink after Hartley blew you up.” He quips back and Eobard draws up short, Cisco stumbling into him with an indignant sound.

“Just because you mind stalked me doesn’t mean you get to share.” Cisco says, sounding strangled as Thawne fights down an obvious smile. Cisco takes one look at him and chokes back whatever he was about to say, face flushing in a sort of breathless anticipation. “You’re not gonna forget that, are you?”

“Not anytime this century, no.” Eobard tells him and Francisco smiles.

It really is too easy sometimes.


	15. Wake Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Could you do an Eobard/Cisco fic after Barry reverses the alternate timeline in s1? 'So what, here to kill me again?'

He can't sleep. 

Well maybe not can't, but won't. Not when every time he closes his eyes he's greeted with the vision of Eobard killing him, of a hand wrapping around his heart and shredding it to pieces like so much shrapnel until the only thing he feels is pain pain pain.

(The betrayal hurts more)

The first couple of nights --mornings-- he wakes with tears in his eyes and a scream in his throat that cant escape past the phantom feeling of agony in his chest. He's breathless with it, fingers gripping at his pillow so tight that they ache. 

He doesn't know how to process it, this reoccurring nightmare that plagues him every time he closes his eyes and so he doesn't. He doesn't think about it, doesn't mention it to any of the others, because if he ignores it then it wont be real. In the light of day it doesn't exist and he can forget about it long enough not to shy away when Harrison is near. 

It's harder when he first wakes up, when the sun hasn't quite risen and Wells' breath is tickling the back of his neck as he holds him too close. (Not close enough, not nearly.) His lover notices of course, blue eyes searching Cisco's face with concern clear in their depths as the sun begins to rise.

He doesn't ask though, understanding that there are some things Cisco isn't ready to share and if he thinks that his problem lies with Snart and his kidnapping escapades, Cisco leaves that to him. 

(Sometimes it's a lot harder to keep quiet. Sometimes he wishes that he could break his self inflicted silence and ask Wells why, why why.)

It comes to a head when he's down in his lab and Dr. Wells comes to wish him a good night. He's been staying later for what's going on a week now and returning home to his own apartment instead. It's quiet there and he can turn on as many lights as he wants to without being asked about it and he doesn't wake up next to the man that murders him in his dreams. 

"You've been pulling away, Cisco." It's quiet, an observation of the rift that's widening between them and Cisco nearly flinches away from the undercurrent of hurt that he hears.

"I've been busy reverse engineering the Bug Eyed Bandits' bees." It's not exactly a lie, but it's not nearly the truth either. 

Wells hums and moves closer, the whir of his chair making some primal part of Cisco recoil in fear. (Three perfectly timed claps and circle of footsteps coming closer, closer) "Funny, we only caught her two days ago, yet you've been working late all week." 

Cisco sits down his pliers and sighs. "What do you want me to say?" 

For a moment, his mentor looks taken aback. "The truth." He says simply and something in Cisco breaks like a heart being torn apart.

"Like you have for the last two and a half years?" He asks, turning in his chair so that Wells will look at him. 

"I've always told you the truth, Cisco." He says and it's all lies, one after the other until Cisco feels like he's drowning in them. (Blood in his throat and tears on his face as he falls to the ground.)

"Why Barry?" 

Something in Wells face goes blank. "Excuse me?" 

"Why Barry Allen?" Cisco repeats. "Why him out of all of the other people effected by the particle accelerator? We know there's more, we have them locked up in the Pipeline, but you chose him."

"Why are you asking me this now?" Wells deflects and the sound that Cisco makes may be a laugh or a scoff. He doesn't know.

"Why aren't you answering me?" He stops, rocking back in his seat as realization dawns. "So what..." He's clever, but not clever enough, not nearly. "You're here to kill me again."

He sounds broken when he says it, voice barely above a whisper because it hurts. It hurts so much and he needs to wake up to make it stop.

"What did you say?" Harrison asks, voice soft and pleading. (Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.) "Cisco, what did you say?"

"You killed me!" Cisco gets up, gets away, and Wells lets him. Cisco is the one pacing the circle now except it's away from the monster in his dreams, away from the terrible truth that's been clawing at him for days.

"Cisco, I don't..." Wells stops and fold his hands in his lap. "You know."

"I know that the Reverse Flash in the containment cell was a projection. I know that you don't need that chair. I know that you've been lying to me for years." He stops and breathes for a moment. "I know that you were lying all those times you said you loved me. All those nights when you told me I was brilliant and precious and... safe."

"No." Wells cuts him off, voice firm and insistent as he appears before him, a breeze brushing his hair back, and Cisco's heart aches. "Cisco, none of that was a lie." 

"Then why?" He doesn't want to plead, but there are tears welling his eyes and too many questions without answers running through his mind. 

"I can't possibly know that." Wells answers and Cisco backs away. "Don't. I don't know what transpired in that timeline. There's no way for me to know, but I wouldn't have hurt you in that way unless I had no other choice."

That doesn't make it better. He wants to scream it at him. He wants grab him or push him away. He wants to...

"Wake up." He chokes out the words, hands coming up to tangle in his hair with so much force that his scalp aches with it. "Wake up, wake up, wake up."

"Cisco--" Wells tries, but Cisco backs away, stumbling into his workbench. The clatter of his tools hitting the floor echoes like a gunshot and he flinches. 

"None of this is real." He says, pleads and his vision (the world) trembles in the face of his agony. Harrison raises a hand to comfort him and all Cisco sees is death, blurred and burning like fire as it rips him apart and he screams.

(He wakes up.)


End file.
